Excitation of a dipole topological state in a strongly coupled two-component Bose-Einstein condensate - art. no. 033612

Two internal hyperfine states of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a dilute mag netically trapped gas of Rb-87 atoms are strongly coupled by an external fi eld that drives Rabi oscillations between the internal states. Due to their different magnetic moments and the force of gravity, the trapping potentia ls for the two states are offset along the vertical axis, so that the dynam ics of the internal and external degrees of freedom are inseparable. The ra pid cycling between internal atomic states in the displaced traps results i n an adiabatic transfer of population from the condensate ground state to i ts first antisymmetric topological state. This has a pronounced effect on t he internal Rabi oscillations, modulating the fringe visibility in a manner reminiscent of collapses and revivals. We present a detailed theoretical d escription based on zero-temperature mean-field theory.